Hitherto, a variety of apparatuses using a secret personal number or a password for personal identity verification or authentication have been devised and put into practice. In banks or other financial institutions, for example, for using cash cards or credit cards, cash dispensers or other banking terminals prompt users to enter a secret personal number or a password for personal identity authentication, and cash cannot be deposited or withdrawn until it has been confirmed that the correct secret personal number or password was entered by the user.
A storage medium such as a magnetic stripe placed on one cash card has only a single storage area for only the corresponding bank. The above-noted secret personal number or password entry merely allows access to the single storage area, and may be insufficient for protection against forgery or theft.
For anti-forgery purposes, the cash card or credit card is often implemented as a contact IC card having an electric contact or a non-contact IC card for reading and writing data in a non-contact manner via wireless data communication. IC card readers/writers installed in, for example, cash dispensers, at the entrances of concert halls, on station ticket gates, and so on are able to access IC cards passed thereover by users in a non-contact manner.
A user enters a secret personal number to the reader of an IC card reader/writer to verify the entered secret personal number against a secret personal number stored in the IC card, thus realizing personal identity verification or authentication between the IC card and the IC card reader/writer. When personal identity verification or authentication is successfully performed, for example, an application stored in the IC card can be used. The applications stored in an IC card may include, for example, that for amount information such as electronic money and electronic ticketing. (A secret personal number for use in accessing an IC card is referred to as PIN (Personal Identification Number).)
Recently, with the development of nanotechnology, IC cards having a relatively large capacity of storage space have become commercially available and have become increasingly widespread. Since a traditional cash card has only a single storage area, i.e., a single application, carried therein, it is necessary to carry a plurality of cards for various uses or applications. On the other hand, the above-noted IC card having a large capacity memory can concurrently store a plurality of applications, and, therefore, a single IC card can be used for a plurality of applications. For example, more than one application used for electronic money for electronic payment, electronic tickets for admission to designated concert halls, and so on can be stored on a single IC card so as to use the single IC card in various applications.
An IC card includes not only a non-contact interface with a card reader/writer (card reading and writing apparatus) but also an external wired interface for connecting to an external device, and the IC card can be connected to or installed in an information processing terminal such as a cellular telephone, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), or a personal computer when used. (In many cases where the IC card is installed in the terminal, the IC card is formed into one chip. The IC card and IC chip are hereinafter collectively referred to simply as an “IC card”.)
In such a case, a variety of application services using the IC card can be performed on the information processing terminal. For example, a user interface such as a keyboard or a display on the information processing terminal can be used for user interaction with the IC card on the information processing terminal. If the IC card is connected to a cellular telephone, the content stored on the IC card can be exchanged over a telephone line.
It is often advantageous if the IC card has two types of interfaces, i.e., the non-contact interface and the external wired interface. For example, an information processing terminal connected to the external wired interface can perform non-contact data communication with a card reading and writing apparatus via the IC card.
Since non-contact data communication requires no manual operation such as connection of connectors, mechanical damage to the parts, such as broken or worn connector pins due to repeated attachment and detachment operations, does not occur.
As an example, it is assumed that a user carries a portable terminal with a built-in IC card, and a public terminal for distributing music or image content or game programs incorporates a card reading and writing apparatus. Once the user passes the portable terminal over the card reading and writing apparatus of the public terminal, non-contact data communication is initiated between the card reading and writing apparatus and the portable terminal to download the desired content or programs into the portable terminal.
However, there is no mechanism for performing data communication between the information processing terminal connected to the IC card and the card reading and writing apparatus.
Recent advances in the packaging technology have allowed an IC card function and a card reading and writing apparatus to be integrated into a single semiconductor chip. Such an IC chip is initiated as an IC card by electromagnetic wave detection and as a reading and writing apparatus by a normal power-on operation.
There is also no data communication mechanism involving an IC module having such a reading and writing function integrated.